What happens in the music world does not stay in the music world. In fact, it has always been a precursor and a very good indicator of upcoming trends in other digital media evolution. While last week’s partnership between Apple and the band U2 was mostly covered for its massive release of a free music album, it is important to view it as it might impact the photo tech market. When done properly, an image – or a series of images – can become inseparable…

Photo sharing apps are dime a dozen with new ones being offered everyday. They are built on the premise that every photo taken and shared should have an audience, which is not often the case. In fact, we are being forced fed photos from our friends and relatives with few having any kind of appeal. Some entrepreneurs have taken the extra step in trying to first define a demand and then connect it with people willing to satisfy it. David Giles , with his app…

Flickr’s recent announcement that it will offer licensing tools to its user base should come as no surprise to the readers to Kaptur. We predicted such a move a while back. At a time when more and more photo tech companies are putting their content for licensing, from 500px to EyeEm , Flickr, the grandfather of them all, had to react. However, having a large pool of images ( over 6 billion images) is not enough to break-in the photo licensing world . To be successful,…

The recent explosion of startups devoted to monetizing photography have revealed certain diversity of approach within the photo tech ecosystem, where business models are targeted largely on accelerated aggregation of imagery and either monetization of the audience (data, app charge, etc.) or of the images themselves (advertising, print on demand, licensing/use). Many, like Chute, provide tools for the aggregation of UGC to supplement their campaigns, while others, like 500px, focus on fine art enthusiasts and provide enhanced portfolio tools in a community setting. The variance…

It ripped the sky open like a lighting in a summer night but we hardly heard the thunder. Yet. A few articles, from the Wall Street Journal to Techcrunch replicating the press release, but that is about it. Which is a little disturbing because a series A investment of $61 million is pretty exceptional. The news that company Pond5, a marketplace for UGC video, photos, illustrations, and sound files, just raised a whooping $61 million (from Accel Partners and Stripes Group) did much less to…

Social Media opened our eyes to the reality that there is a massive talent pool of photographers that have not chosen the path of going pros. They enjoy taking and sharing photos just for the pleasure while they go on paying for their lives with other, probably more lucrative, occupations. Nevertheless, the technology world doesn’t see it that way. More and more, options are appearing, allowing social media images an opportunity to be monetized, whether they like it or not. In the last 3 years we have…

The traditional image licensing business is a transactional one. Historically, the management of rights was considered to be an ongoing service, but with royalty free models eclipsing rights managed volumes, this is of little to no value for today’s image buyer. All value is wrapped up in the transaction: image rights and metadata are pre-vetted, and those are the most important and critical components to the product. Consumers are buying a license – not an image – and that license makes warranties of accuracy that assuages…

Social media photo platforms, rising in numbers from the dual pull of Instagram $1 billion acquisition and people’s insatiable appetite for mobile photography, are facing a complicated maturity issue: How to monetize without defection ? The first step of all social media photo platform is to gain traction by gaining market share. Here, all the models are the same : using the network effect, grow your users base to a comfortable number ( usually in the millions active users) by offering them a set of…

Busy week for Stock photography behemoth Getty Images. After opening up half of its images to free embedding, making a partnership with EyeEm, they have now announce that they are terminating their deal with Flickr. What does this mean ? On an individual level, photographers from Flickr who have images on Getty will continue to be represented by Getty according to their agreement. However, Getty will not continue to mine Flickr for new photos or photographers. Instead, they recommend Flickr users to pick up the…

It was just a question of time. We have repeatedly wrote here about how the current photo licensing model is broken and obsolete. We also explained at full length how image data collection and third-party revenue are the new gold mine. Getty apparently heard and is now applying. (If you want to read how it works, there is a great full explanation here) Getty Images announcement today that it has put 35 Million of its 80 million images up for free is…